The field of the present invention relates to apparel worn by a person in or on a body of water. In particular, methods and apparel are disclosed for attenuating electromagnetic fields emanating from a person in or on a body of water.
The subject matter disclosed or claimed herein may be related to subject matter disclosed or claimed in: (i) U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 12/347,967 filed Dec. 31, 2008 in the names of Michael D. Slinkard and John M. Maupin and entitled “Methods and apparel for attenuating electromagnetic fields emanating from a hunter,” (ii) U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 12/347,971 filed Dec. 3, 2008 in the names of Michael D. Slinkard and John M. Maupin and entitled “Methods and hunting blind for attenuating electromagnetic fields emanating from a hunter,” and (iii) U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 12/428,763 filed Apr. 23, 2009 in the names of Michael D. Slinkard and John M. Maupin and entitled “Methods and apparel for attenuating electromagnetic fields emanating from an animal handler.” Each of said applications is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
It is known that the human body generates electromagnetic fields during normal body functions, and that those fields can increase in strength with increased activity, excitement, emotion, or attention. For example, brain activity, nerve activity, and muscle activity all result in electric fields that emanate from the body. Detection and characterization of such fields is the basis for the conventional clinical techniques of electrocardiography (i.e., ECG or EKG), electroencephalography (i.e., EEG), and electromyelography (i.e., EMG). For the purposes of the present disclosure or claims, “electromagnetic” is intended to denote those fields that have temporal variations well below so-called optical frequencies (i.e., having frequency components no greater than about 1 gigahertz (GHz), typically no greater than about 1 megahertz (MHz), and often no greater than about 1 kilohertz (kHz).
It is also known that at least some animals can detect or respond to electromagnetic fields. For example, sharks detect electric fields emanating from prey by means of special sensing organs called the ampullae of Lorenzini (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampullae_of_Lorenzini). A shark-repelling system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,980 that generates an electric field to drive away the sharks. Other animals are believed to navigate their natural migratory routes using the earth's magnetic field (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/magnetic/animals.html).
Fabrics exist that are adapted to attenuate or block electromagnetic fields. They typically include electrically conductive fibers (metal, carbon nanotubes, or other conductive fibers) incorporated into the fabric along with more typical textile fibers. Garments constructed from such fabrics are conventionally used to shield a human wearer from surrounding electromagnetic fields. Such shielding can be usefully employed into safety equipment or apparel, can be worn by or applied to a patient to provide various health or therapeutic benefits, or for other purposes. Examples of such fabrics and their uses can be found in the following references, each of which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein:                U.S. Pat. No. 7,354,877 entitled “Carbon nanotube fabrics” issued Apr. 8, 2008 to Rosenberger et al;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,868,854 entitled “Method and article for treatment of fibromyalgia” issued Mar. 22, 2005 to Kempe;        Pat. Pub. No. 2004/0053780 entitled “Method for fabricating nanotube yarn” published Mar. 18, 2004 in the names of Jiang et al;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,265,466 entitled “Electromagnetic shielding composite comprising nanotubes” issued Jul. 24, 2001 to Glatkowski et al;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,351 entitled “Method of reducing delayed onset muscle soreness” issued Nov. 14, 2000 to Kempe;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,188 entitled “Air permeable electromagnetic shielding medium” issued Apr. 15, 1997 to Lee et al;        U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,877 entitled “Method of pain reduction using radiation-shielding textiles” issued May 2, 1989 to Kempe; and        U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,473 entitled “Method and article for pain reduction using radiation-shielding textile” issued Mar. 31, 1987 to Kempe.        
There is no teaching or suggestion in the prior art to attenuate or block electromagnetic fields emanating from a human body, or that such attenuation or blocking would be desirable.